Raeisi’s Latin America tour to boost cooperation between free countries: Analyst

Iranian President Ebrahim Raeisi’s three-nation tour of Latin America will strengthen the integration between free countries amid the transition in the world order, says an analyst.

In an interview with the Press TV website on Sunday, Bolivian journalist and analyst Sdenka Saavedra Alfaro said the Iranian president’s tour comes as free countries of the world are asserting themselves and the influence of Western hegemonic powers is rapidly waning.

President Raeisi embarked on a three-nation tour of Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Cuba on Sunday, accompanied by a high-ranking delegation, to discuss the expansion of relations.

Iran and the three Latin American countries have shared experiences of facing US sanctions and refusing to be bullied into submission despite overt and covert pressures.

Alfaro, who is a prominent commentator on Latin American politics, said Iran can share the experience of facing and neutralizing 44 years of sanctions with Latin American countries.

She said independent countries such as Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua are branded as "axis of evil" or "terrorist countries" for refusing to be vassal states of the US, EU, and their allies.

The Bolivian analyst said Venezuela has faced more than a thousand sanctions that have exacerbated the economic crisis in the country and led to “collective punishment” of people there.

In August 2021, Venezuela had asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate US sanctions imposed on the Latin American country as "crimes against humanity".

Alfaro also referred to the loot of Venezuela’s resources, including gold, by the US and its local agents, saying 32 tons of gold reserves have not been returned to the Venezuelan people.

The commentator on Latin American affairs also lauded the resistance put up by Cuba, which has faced decades of US trade embargo, calling it “an example for free countries of the world”.

Nicaragua, she hastened to add, has also been under “severe embargo” and illegal sanctions imposed by the US and its European allies, including those that bar US citizens from doing business with the gold industry of the Central American country.

Alfaro lashed out at the US for harping about democracy and freedom while slapping the most number of sanctions on other countries and following the failed policy of military interventions.

Today, she said, the common struggle of people with an “anti-imperialist vision” is of “vital importance”, which calls for greater cooperation between Iran and these Latin American countries.

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